It isn’t often that communications companies push back against
government requests to monitor customers and hand over information about them,
but a government task force is seeking to make it even harder for companies to
say no.

Unlike telecommunications companies that are required under the
1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to have systems
that are wiretap-enabled, some internet communication methods — such as social
networking sites and online gaming sites — aren’t easily wiretapped and are not
required to enable the capability under CALEA. Companies that argue that they
don’t have the means to enable wiretapping have avoided complying with court
orders seeking real-time surveillance, the paper notes. The legislation is
intended to force these companies into finding technology solutions that would
enable real-time surveillance.

Microsoft reportedly
applied for a patent in 2009 for a technology
called Legal Intercept that would have the ability to secretly monitor,
intercept and record Skype calls. Microsoft filed for the patent before it
bought Skype in 2011.

The push for legislation to compel these companies to cooperate
with wiretapping orders began in 2010 after Google initiated end-to-end
encryption for Gmail and text messages, which made it more difficult for the FBI
to intercept e-mail under a court order, the Post notes.

But critics like
Matt Blaze, professor of computer science at the University of Pennsylvania,
have argued that the intercept capabilities introduce
vulnerabilities (.pdf) that make it possible for foreign intelligence
agencies and others to hijack the surveillance systems on communication networks
and do their own spying.

The piece noted that officials wanted legislation that would
require all communications providers — including encrypted e-mail providers,
like Google, social networking sites like Facebook, and messaging and voice
services like Skype — to install the technical capability for wiretapping.
Officials wanted these services to provide the ability not only to intercept and
record communications but to and decrypt encrypted communications.

Officials argue that they’re not seeking new powers; they just
want to extend the monitoring authority they currently have for
telecommunications to other communication methods on the internet.